The Port of Houston got a big boost on Monday from Vice President Joe Biden, who, as part of a broad call to invest in all U.S. ports to create jobs, promised to help secure funding and permits for dredging.

Biden said the administration is proposing a $50 billion investment package to upgrade the nation's ports and other transportation infrastructure, including railroads and bridges. Such an investment would help create 650,000 jobs, the vice president said.

Biden's Houston visit is the final leg of a tour of American ports to highlight the expansion of the Panama Canal to accommodate larger ships. The vice president next will head to Panama for an update on the massive expansion project.

The Panama Canal project will double the shipping capacity of the canal system that has been limited by the locks' inability to accommodate ships wider than 110 feet and longer than 1,050 feet.

The Panama Canal expansion will drastically change U.S. commerce, bringing five times as many exports through the Port of Houston by the year 2035.

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"Imagine how many jobs that means," he said.

Biden's visit to Houston is part of a wider administration effort to expand seaport operations across the United States that account for nearly 80 percent of the volume of U.S. international trade, supporting more than 13 million U.S. jobs.